For several months we heard the pitter-patter of rodent feet in the loft and in the ceiling above our ground floor, but couldn't see any other signs of rats or mice. We asked a roofing company to inspect our roof, where they found a rat's nest in the far corner of the loft, which they dismantled and destroyed. But they came back! We also had the roof replaced and thought that was an end to the problem.
However, the occasional noises continued which concerned us, but again no droppings were visible. Then we came back from holiday and found the toilet rolls at the back of the airing cupboard had been shredded and the central heating thermostat would not work. The gas engineers found the wiring had been chewed right through! We also found something had chewed the plastic dishwasher water pipe.
We contacted Warwick District Council Environmental Health Department and were visited very promptly by an excellent Environmental Health Officer. He did some research and gave us good advice. It appeared that a rat or rats were entering our property through the sewage pipes, and he recommended having a drain survey done. We contacted A-Line Drainage who inspected our sewage pipes using cameras, and found evidence of considerable rat droppings underneath our inspection chambers. They suggested we install a RatGate, explaining that it was a device that sits in your drains and stops rats from advancing any further, whilst still allowing water and waste to flow through it. We thought it was worth giving it a go, so gave them the green light to install one.
We're delighted to say that since we've had a RatGate installed we have been totally free of rats and all noises have ceased. We are so very grateful for A-Line Drainage for introducing us to this incredible product.
It is extremely stressful to have rats in ones property and we felt totally helpless to solve the problem. Poison will not kill a rat in situ and if a rat were to die under the floorboards we have been told the smell would be terrible.
We thoroughly recommend the RatGate and would advise everyone to have one installed.